Christmas Day is Here.

A Very Merry Christmas To All.

 

 

 

 

More of an instagram post than a blog post today.

 

 

Hope you enjoy these pics of the table before the family arrives.

 

 

Have a wonderful day.

 

til next time

 

Bron.

 

Christmas Cross Wreath.

Happy Friday......

 LESS than a week to go and the countdown is on, l hope you all get the chance to relax as we head into these final days of preparation, things are still pretty cruisy around here (though they prob'ly shouldn't be:-).....l might not have presents organised, food shopped for, or table decorations sorted, but hey l DO  have a wreath and it's always good to get your priorities right......right.... haha.

 

It was pretty simple to make, l bent some wire into a cross shape, cut strips of tulle and tied them on, and then decorated with ornaments...and it's  something a bit different from the traditional round shape.

Warm sunshine through the kitchen window....a few new pretties for my stall at the Mill and roses in the perfect state of decay.

Not sure how this nest ended up on our lawn but it's construction is engineering genius...right down to the warm and cosy polyester fill used to line it....so clever, oui.... 

 

 This lovely tapestry was a recent opshop find. It had been hideously framed, which didn't exactly enhance it's loveliness, and l promised myself and "her" that l'd give her a decent makeover. So instead of throwing it to the back of a cupboard or my workroom (which is what usually happens:-) work began immediately l got home....(and so you see how l don't get the necessary things done:-) 

 

 l decided on a cushion since they're always useful and this would mean being able to add some interest to the blank (boring) right hand corner. l finally decided on a heavy grey lace with rosette bow, topped off with a bit of bling...

 

 

l added this pic so you could see the the fabric l used for the rest of the cushion...it's a heavy damask in a similar grey to the base of the tapestry which l think works well enough. l gathered some of this same fabric to create a ribbon to go around the wall that divides the front from the back. l also inserted a gold braid at the back, to echo the gold braid and gold stones of the brooch at the front.

   

 

 Found (the other day) a few more old mercury glass Christmas decorations to add to my small (but growing) collection.

  

 

Mid 1800's Coalport plates found at the market...looking so NOW they could have been made yesterday.

 

 

 

l hope you all have a safe and happy beautiful Christmas and holiday season. Thanks so much for stopping by.

 

Til next time,

 

Bron. 

 

Starting To Feel It.

 l'm happy to report (after my wee tanty last post..haha) that l HAVE found a little Christmas spirit since then, which is definitely due in part to all the lovely blogs out there chock filled with Christmas inspiration....l've been putting a few ideas together and taking photos in the hope of doing a little inspiring myself....if not, well...at least l've tried:-))

The candles shown were inspired by the lovely ones Rachel Ashwell is selling on her website, which come ready melted....an idea l wanted to try, though for these l used a different coloured candle for the melted edges than the base...it was simple to do, l lit a pink candle and dripped the melted wax all around the edges of a white one, encouraging it to drip down the sides as well, it's a bit of a slow process though and l only used half a taper for the two candles.....it would have looked better if l'd used about 3 of them to really build up the sides.... but it's just the idea isn't it.

 Some of you may remember the glass swans that were big in the late 70's, anyway they're pretty easy to find at opshops and flea markets.....normally l wouldn't schlep them home but l had the idea that if l funkied them up a bit they'd make a nice centrepiece in a Christmas vignette. To do that l simply took out the old fake roses that were in their hollow tummies and filled them with feathers. (Back in the day people filled them with coloured water...eeek!!)
The reindeer were originally brown cardboard, they can be bought in most craft shops or discount stores....l covered them in woodgrain wallpaper which was a sample piece (free) from Masters.

  The Christmas tree is up.....l decided on pale pink, white and gold and then found these peonies at the market....they just happened to match perfectly.

  



 

 

Rachel Ashwell also sells lovely little white star tree decorations.....These were made of twigs from one of our trees which were snapped to size and wired together....then decorated with flowers and strips of shabby chic fabric. 

  

Here they are on the tree....wondering if l should paint them pale pink.....maybe l need a few more.....or maybe less would be more haha..... 

   

 

 Love my pink Santa....l was lucky to find him, they're near impossible to buy here in Oz....wah:-))

 

Rachel Ashwell's pretty shabby pink Christmas living room..... 

Thanks for stopping by and hope your weekend is awesome.

Til next time,

Bron.

 

 

 

 

Getting That Christmas Spirit ???

As you know it's almost the end of the year and only just this week have l finally booked hubby and l in to get our taxes done (for last year that is:-) - organised person, sooo NOT.... by my estimation that makes me 5 months at least behind the rest of the world. No amount of effort on my part seems to help me get any better organised either, which is bloody annoying to say the least.



.....and now with Christmas looming l KNOW l should at least be thinking about gift ideas for people and colour schemes for the Christmas decorating but somehow distraction reigns free here, and l just know l'm gonna have to fire myself from a cannon into the middle of next week if l'm ever to catch up and even then it'll be at the last gasp.. 



l'm astounded that some of our neighbours have already begun (the tedious??) task of decorating their entire house frontage, resplendent with reindeer on the front lawn and lights all over the house from here to the wazoo.....lf l can even find my lights (which only ever adorn the tree) and get them to work it'll be a mini miracle.



The people round the corner from us enter the Christmas light competition every year, so not only do they spend months decorating their entire house frontage, but also the man of the house dresses up as Santa every night of the competition to welcome hordes of people and children that traipse all over his front lawn and through his (perfectly) manicured box hedging, now that's what l call Christmas SPIRIT (or pr'aps utter madness depending on your take on it, haha).....half the time we don't even turn our Christmas tree lights on.....l just don't CARE....does that make me anti-social, anti-christmas....or both:-))



Maybe if the kids still lived at home or if l had a couple of grandies l might be filled with Christmas spirit myself and not be such an Ebenezer about it all. There used to be great fun and excitement in decorating the Christmas tree when the kiddos were young....we'd pull out all the decorations and l'd be trying to place them symmetrically on the tree and the kids would be plonking them all over the place..... l'd try to have a bit of a colour scheme going on and they'd want the entire rainbow range and we'd  use all the decorations (and the stockings) the kids made at school, even if they were a bit dodgy at times:-)....those were the days my friends:-)

Of course these days it's just hubby and me rattling around here on our own so we like to keep it simple.....Having said that it's nice to make an effort with the Christmas lunch table since we usually host and l say host 'cos l certainly don't cook..... except for the vegies. Everyone else pretty much brings lunch  with them, mostly 'cos l'm a crap cook and they want to be able to EAT the food, but also 'cos they're just good like that and want to contribute....any way a couple of wines and no-one worries too much...(ok maybe that's just me:-)) 

 

So this week as well as getting aforementioned tax paperwork organised and the usual old drudge l've been picking roses, taking photos and vintage shopping.....why would this week be different from any other week haha.... 



l've also been mending and reinventing some old jewellery.

 

....and maybe a little guilty pleasure.. a bit of paint and pen dabbling....ooohhh l had a thought... a Christmas card perhaps, just add bells and a santa... haha 

 

 

But hey, next week's a new week and l'm absolutely fully intent on getting all my ducks in a row... 

 

 

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend whatever you're up to, thanks for stopping by.

 

Til next time,

 

Bron. 

 



Chalk Paint - Using Builders Lime.

If you've been popping in here for a while you might remember this dressing table which is in our main bedroom....It was once my grandmother's, she gave it to Mum and it was in our childhood home for all the years l can remember, Mum then offered it to me in the 80's and l spent way too many tedious hours stripping back 50 years of paint colours.... so even though l was over the brown timber look YEARS ago, after all that work l was reluctant to repaint it again....However the time had COME and last week l decided to make up some chalk paint to give it that vintage painted look....l was going for pretty, but not perfect or precious in any way.

There's a before pic at the end of this post.

l decided to make up my own chalk paint for a few reasons....the main one being that l didn't want to have to order and then wait for it to arrive, l wanted to paint NOW....(Bron's so patient...said NO-ONE EVER:-)

Also l wanted the option to make up my own colour and the fun of experimenting with the builders lime which we had on hand in the garage.....l'd read that calcium carbonate made the best chalk paint and since that's pretty much what lime is, l figured it should work much the same way. 

 

l used 2 teaspoons (level) of lime which was mixed with the same amount of water. This mixture was added to about a cup of paint (Dulux acrylic). It thickened up quickly so l added more water to keep the texture to that of pancake mix. If you want to try this it might pay to wear some (disposable) gloves and glasses (l used sunnies) as (hubby says), the builders lime may be an irritant. Once the mix was blended into the paint l removed the gloves and glasses had no problems. The paint was lovely and smooth and painted on easily. No undercoating or sanding was done at all, but since the dressing table had previously been coated in high gloss varnish, 3 coats of paint were needed for good coverage. l did NOT use any wax finishing...nothing about this paint job was to be shiny or new looking, nor did l seal the paint for protection.

 

The three coats of paint were done the same day, then l waited 'til the next day before l went at it with the electric sander....This was done fairly randomly, though paying special attention to what l considered might be the wear points.
l thought about painting flowers on the drawers, but decided instead to use decoupage cut-outs. You can see in this photo where the decals were sanded before pasting, to give them a time-worn look as well. Some of the decals tore away in small areas which to my eye adds to the effect.
The drawer pulls are ceramic and were some l already had....they were right for the job, except for the colour (burgundy and white stripes) so l painted them too with 3 coats of the same chalk paint and was surprised at how well it covered, l don't think it'll wear off either...it seems to be stuck hard.



l also experimented on this old jar....l chose this one because of the embossed writing on the surface. Once the entire jar was painted and dry l was able to sand across the lettering to make it stand out, and also sanded away at a few of the edges of the lid to add the vintage touch.

 

This cardboard hatbox also got the treatment, l'd found the cardboard crown months ago and the lid of the box seemed like the perfect place to glue it on. The crown was painted and rubbed back for effect. 



Any way to me the dressing table matches the bedroom way better and that corner is no longer dark and uninviting.

 

l really pared back on the stuff l kept out on the dressing table as well, and chose only the things l use and just a few pretties:-)  

 

 

Before....boring, ick orange/brown.


Well l hope you enjoyed this post and that it's of help if you're looking to try out your own chalk paint experience:-)

Have an awesome weekend whatever you're up to.

Til next time,

Bron.

 

Inspiration Lilac.

Happy Saturday....

l spent a couple of hours last week revisiting my childhood:-) pasting and prettying up this hat box l found at the opshop..... l'm sure most of you have heard of  Thomas Kincade. (Painter of Light), anyway l'm totally a fan, and my son bought me a calender of his work one year....it was so lovely l could never toss it out.....see...who says being a hoarder is bad:-)

My lilac decided to flower this week....just to co-ordinate with Thomas's awesome work:-)   

 

 Shades of purple to mauve... in minutia. 

 

 

 This very romantic firescreen was found at a garage sale....lt was bargain priced as the seller confessed he absolutely hated it and couldn't wait for it to be gone....well what can l say...it's gone!!  

It has a plaque on the back so l was able to do a bit of research on it. Apparently made in England in the mid 20th century. The painting is printed on paper which seems an unusual choice for something that will be sat in front of the FIRE!!

Marie Antoinette print?? 

  More lilac inspiration....Decorology. via flickr.

 

Dusty mauve....Bella Notte Linen. via pinterest. 

Thought you might like to check out the wisteria in full bloom in Mum's backyard...It's climbing over an unused rotary clothesline and you might be able to see the trunk(s) (left of pic) which Mum plaited when it was teeny. 

 

My brother and S.I.Law gave Mum this rusty old car seat and friendship plaque....l just love what she's done with it.... 

 

 

Hope you've enjoyed the post today and are having yourselves an awesome weekend. Thanks so much for stopping by.

 

Til next time.

 

Bron.